The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Railways has proposed an alternative location for a hospital originally planned to be built in place of the Central Railway Building (CRB) and its surrounding area in Chittagong.
On Tuesday, during a meeting, Railways Minister ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, who heads the committee, proposed the Kumira area in the port city as an alternative location.
“Chittagong people have never wanted a hospital in CRB. However, Chittagong does need a modern hospital. Hence an alternative location is needed,” he said.
The minister, who is also the lawmaker of Chittagong’s Raozaon area, said that while the final call regarding the location lies with the prime minister, the ongoing movement to protect the area has prompted the proposal.
Meanwhile, protesters who have long been demonstrating to keep the protected area untouched, see the discussion as “positive.”
“This proposal is the result of a long-running movement,” says Prof Anupam Sen, president of CRB Protection Movement and vice-chancellor of Premier University.
He said that the people of Chittagong have strongly been against a hospital in the CRB area.
“For the sake of Chittagong's clean environment, we have issued a two-point formal demand to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to conserve the CRB, which is surrounded by greenery,” he said.
He reiterated that it would be better if a hospital project was offered on the site of an abandoned railway hospital in Kumira.
In March 2020, Bangladesh Railway and United Enterprise Ltd signed a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement on the construction of a 500-bed multi-specialized hospital and a 100-seat medical college in the CRB area.
The signing prompted various social and environmental organizations to stage movements to put a stop to the project.
On July 17, residents of Chittagong held processions, a tree plantation program, formed a human chain, and even engaged in other forms of protests all day against the decision.
On August 3, the mayor of Chittagong vowed to resist the planned construction of the hospital in the CRB area, considered the port city’s hub of natural oxygen.